Lynching of students’stirs row

Were they really robbers? This is the question many are asking following the killing of four students of University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) in Rivers State in Aluu community for alleged robbery. Their mates are threatening to attack the community if the allegation turns out to be false. CHRIS OKAFOR (Microbiology, UNIPORT) and GERALD NWOKOCHA report.

THEIR death first hit the airwaves through the social network media. It generated conversation, with those exchanging mails, wondering what they could have done to warrant being killed like that.

Ugonna, Lloyd, Tekena and Chidioka, all students of Universality of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) in Rivers State, were lynched by some members of Aluu community last Friday after being accused of robbery.

Did they really rob? Who did they rob? Were they found with the stolen items? There were some of the questions asked by friends on the social media. Aluu is about 20 minutes walk through a bush path from the campus. Since their death, their mates have been spoiling for a fight with the community over the way they were killed.

Before their death, the community has been terrorised by robbers, who killed each time they came if they got nothing. During an attack, the robbers were said to have killed a family head and raped his daughter. CAMPUSLIFE gathered that this incident made the community to step up security.

However, there are still conflicting reports on the visit of the burnt students to the area. One account had it that the villagers caught them while returning from an operation. Guns, laptops and smart phones, such as Blackberry belonging to students living in the community were said to have been recovered from them.

Another account said the students were cultists who were rounded up during the initiation of new members. Yet another source said the victims were set up by a student, who owed one of them.

Students and members of Aluu community watched as the victims were beaten with sticks and other lethal weapons. Some of them took the pictures of the incident with camera phone and other devices. The video obtained by CAMPUSLIFE showed middle-age men placing tyres round the necks of the victims, with another holding a container of petrol. Then another threw a lit match from behind after the dying students were drenched with petrol.

But a student, who lives in the community, told CAMPUSLIFE that the students were not robbers as claimed by the community. “They were made to confess to killings and previous robberies because result of excess torture,” the student said.

Two of the victims – Ugonna and Lloyd – were cousins. CAMPUSLIFE gathered that they were upcoming rappers. Lloyd, who was known as Big L, won a rap contest, Turb Show, aired on Silverbird Television in Port Harcourt.

However, whether the lynched students were robbers or cultists, the community has been criticised for unlawfully killing them.

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, at an emergency State Executive Council meeting, condemned the action, describing it as barbaric. A former Vice President (Africa) of the World Bank, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, expressed outrage, saying something was fundamentally wrong with the nation. She described the killing as savagery. The traditional ruler of the community and some of his subjects have been arrested in connection with the incident.

Students condemned the act, threatening to attack the community.

According to Frank Weli, 300-Level Microbiology, the story about stealing of Blackberry phones and laptops is a lie. “The mob killed the students to probably make a point to robbers who have been terrorising the community,” he said.

A student, who lives in the community, said under condition of anonymity: “The allegation that the students stole phones and laptops is a lie. When they were being beaten, we could not see the materials that they claimed they stole. But none of us could talk because the people were violent and could rope any student who may want to stop them from killing the four students.”

Shola Akinjobi said the man that supervised the lynching should be arrested and killed also. “How could someone organise the killing of individuals in such a violent manner?” he asked. Bene Oweredada, another student, described the killing as brutal, said: “We can go on reprisal attack if we discover they didn’t steal anything.”

The management of UNIPORT has confirmed that the deceased were students. Addressing a press conference last Monday, the management named the students as Biringa Chidiaka Lordson, 200-Level Theatre Arts, with matriculation number U2010/1805036; Ugonna Kelechi Obuzor, 200-Level Geology, with matriculation number U2010/5565149; Mike Lloyd Toku, 200-Level Civil Engineering, with matriculation number U2010/3010094; and Tekena Erikena, whose details were still being sorted out at press time.